YOGA Free

When you first open up 250 Poses & Yoga Classes you are presented with a relaxing home page.

You have the option to create your own program or to browse the immense pose base. If you choose to create your own program you can add poses from the pose base, or you can also start off with a default program which you are able to edit to your liking. Poses have an image, info, and sometimes an instructional video or diagram showing affected muscles.

This review takes a look at the iPhone version of the app, however, there is a HD version for the iPad available also.

It is really simple for a beginner to start off with the default program. All you need to do is press start and listen to a calming voice direct your body into different poses and breathing techniques. By propping my iPhone on my desk I was able to see the images while listening to the easy to follow directions.

I have never practiced yoga in my life and was very surprised at how good I was doing and how well I felt afterwards. Personally I am going to start using this app more because it is really great and Iâ??m too shy to practice yoga at my gym. You can also customize the background music by adding any of your songs to the playlist; something I found very neat.

The different types and levels of yoga poses have been structured to be together in groups. This app struck me as being very well put together to a professional level.

At the end of the program you are greeted with a message â??Todayâ??s challenges have made you wiser and more experienced for a new start tomorrow. Have some rest and let happiness wash over you.â? You can then share your experiences through Facebook or Twitter. The best part about this app is that all of your progress gets saved in a calendar that you can monitor yourself through. Every day of the calendar has an inspirational quote about yoga that keeps you on track.

I really enjoy using this app and I’m impressed with how organized the poses are. While using 250 Poses & Yoga class, some advertisements will occasionally pop up asking if you would like to buy the premium version (300 poses & Yoga Classes). I am going to look into the paid version and I recommend you do too. This is a great app for people who practice yoga or are just starting out.

Transcript:

This is a great app with 250 Yoga poses with photos and instructions, as well as ready made programs with video and voice guidance, with the option of tailoring your very own program.

Let’s start the app up.

OPEN APP

Here you can see that we are given the option of signing in with Facebook and we can already see that the graphics look promising just by this colourful background with a wooden effect here.

SKIP

Here on the main screen we are given the option of viewing our personal programs, or entering the pose base, as well as a calendar, with an option to buy the full version, options and more.

We’ll just take a peek at the calendar.

CALENDAR

Here in the calendar our work out days will be marked with a flower so that we can track our work out days. If we tap on a flower we can view workout statistics, such as the workout’s name, duration and start time.

You’ll notice too that there is an inspirational quote that appears at the bottom of the screen. A nice touch.

OPTIONS

Here we have options to set time periods, calendar statistics and to turn the teacher’s voice on and off as well as more options.

HELP

We also have a help menu with various help screens which is a very thorough approach by the developer. This will help clear up any confusion over how to use this app.

HOW TO GO THROUGH PROGRAM

BACK x 4

Let’s take a look at the Pose Base

POSE BASE

As you can see the yoga exercises are divided into 4 categories, beginner, intermediate, advanced and guru.

SCROLL UP & DOWN

As you can see there are a lot of exercises and this is just the beginner section.

We’ll click on the cat pose and although it happens fast, when I press the button a flower graphic pops up which is a really different touch, rather than just ‘touch up inside’ button tapping effects.

CAT POSE

Here we can see a picture of the pose and also info needed to instruct us on how to perform the pose.

INFO SCREEN

The instructions in the app are concise, which I like because as you know, if a description of an exercise or pose in an app is too wordy, it can slow the workout down and make the routine kind of clunky to complete.

BACK

Let’s take a look at the intermediate poses.

INTERMEDIATE

In this category the app goes up a gear for more challenging poses, such as half moon rises, one arm right bends and mountain poses for example.

HALF MOON POSE

Here, looking at the half moon pose, you can see that although the exercises get a bit more challenging, they are not impossible and I’d guess that it wouldn’t take too long to progress from beginner poses to intermediate level poses through a regular yoga routine.

The guru category is challenging, so whatever your yoga skill level is, this app will be an invaluable tool.

BACK TO MAIN SCREEN

Okay, let’s click on ‘My Programs’

MY PROGRAMS

Here we have the choice of several modes, ‘quick recipe’ or ‘fast mode’.

QUICK RECIPE

Here in quick recipe we have ready-made routines for beginners if you’ve never done yoga before and want to jump straight in.

SUN SALUTATION FOR WELLNESS

This program is 23 minutes long which is a set of dynamic asana poses.

SCROLL UP & DOWN

GREETING POSE

As an example we’ll click on the ‘Greeting Pose’. As you can see there is a pose picture as well as info, but also a video too. Let’s take a look at one example video that you get for each exercise in this routine.

VIDEO

This is the half moon pose. So we can see here that with a picture, instruction and also a video there is not much chance of confusion as to how to do the yoga poses. Very thoroughly explained here.

BACK – FAST MODE

In fast mode we can create our very own program. You can name your program and also add poses.

TYPE IN PRGRAM NAME AND ADD POSE

FREESTYLE

Admittedly I used to think yoga was a lot less effort than say weight lifting or aerobic exercise, but on trying some of these exercises I personally found yoga more challenging. This is because I am not very flexible – this is my weak point, so this app will be personally very helpful in increasing my flexibility as well as my fitness levels.

Although I’m reviewing the iPhone version of this app, the app is also available on the iPad as a HD version.

The female instructor is a professional yogi and you can also listen to in-app music or choose music from your playlist.

Another thing I like is that if you get a phone call or SMS the app will pause and then resume at where you were after answering the call or reading your message.

In conclusion, this is a very comprehensive app that is completely free, so give it a try. You can’t lose anything from giving this great app a chance. There is also the option to upgrade to the paid version with even more poses and functionality which is at a very reasonable price on the App Store.

I found this app attractive, professionally put together, concise and very flexible, given that you can create your own personal programs too.

Summary

2 COMMENTS

Just bought the iPad HD paid version of this app and can’t wait to review it.
There is a whole host of extra functionality in the app and the pre-made programs are plentiful.
I’m really interested in enhancing my stretching capabilities with this app, as on a recent holiday I couldn’t even sit up straight in a canoe. The sitting up straight bit exhausted me more than the actual rowing lol. :0
It cost me under a dollar for the paid version and is worth way more than this. This is one of those apps where you get way more than you expect.